Monday, September 23, 2002

Recently, Perle was in London trying to shame Tony Blair into attaching himself as the fig leaf of multilateralism on the American colossus in its Iraq invasion, by stating that George Bush would lose credibility as the leader of the war on terrorism if he was not able to carry out his oft-stated promise to deal with Iraq. Leaving aside for a moment the fact that Bush would actually enhance his standing by repudiating the Iraq invasion plans and presenting himself to the world as something other than the vicious, violent mental and moral dwarf that he really is, it is somewhat astounding that the pro-war clique has been reduced to such pathetic emotional appeals.

As you’ve probably guessed, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is Oil. Spending billions of dollars and thousands of lives in wars for oil is something that American public opinion, with its high self-regard, would have difficulty accepting as a national goal. The leaders of this administration, all oil men, understand this but also believe that their duty is to protect the American way of life, which Ari Fleischer so memorably described as “blessed” beyond the mundane need ever to be subjected to energy conservation, by controlling, by coercion and force if necessary, the world supply of oil. And as is typical of this administration, the policy, enshrined as gospel, is conducted without public debate and, if possible, without public knowledge.

It is difficult to think of a more ill-conceived policy than the war with Iraq; and it is difficult to imagine a time other than the aftermath of a catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil that could allow the war campaign to proceed as far as it already has. For the neo-con hawks, this is the year of living recklessly; if they can’t pull off the invasion now, maybe they never can. It’s time for desperate measures in the service of a cause they deeply believe in. Maybe only the collapse of the House of Saud could rally world opinion behind an invasion of Iraq; maybe one of the artificial provocations that have served military empires so well in the past must be manufactured. Maybe they have to destroy the Middle East in order to save it—and them. As long as George Bush is president, we’ll keep walking along the razor’s edge.